Extreme weather conditions caused by climate change are threatening the future of some of the UK’s favourite sports, including cricket, football and golf. A report by the Climate Coalition, a campaign group, urges sporting bodies to adapt to the changing environment.
Climate change is altering weather patterns around the world. In the UK, it has resulted in more rain. Over 25 per cent of England’s one-day cricket international matches have been reduced by rain since 2000. The winters of 2013–14 and ...

We are delighted to announce the publication of our new study and revision guide for IB Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS).
Written for the requirements of the 2017–2023 exam sessions, this revision guide offers succinct coverage of the whole syllabus for Environmental Systems and Societies, with extensive self-test material to help students prepare for mocks and final exams. Clearly structured to match the curriculum, it offers exam tips and original case studies.
Here’s what author Adrian Palmer said about his book:
I have ...

The wolf is on the rise in Europe. In the winter of 2017–18, wolves finally re-appeared in Belgium, the last country from which it had been absent.
The wolf is protected by EU law, but a rising tide of hostility is encouraging some politicians to push to kill it. France approved a cull of up to 40 wolves following protests last year. When Germany’s wolf population reached 60 packs, its agriculture minister argued that culling was required. Finland has reduced its ...

The richest 0.1% of the world’s population have increased their combined wealth by as much as the poorest 50%—some 3.8 billion people—since 1980. The World Inequality Report found that the richest 1% of the world’s population accounted for 27% of the world’s wealth growth between 1980 and 2016. The top 0.1% accounted for 13%, while the top 0.001%—about 76,000 people—accounted for about 4% of all the new wealth created since 1980.
World Distribution of Wealth
The top 0.1% income group—about 7 ...

Across much of the Republic of Ireland, conifer plantations appear to be on the increase. This is partly to do with the easy returns from converting farmland to woodland. During the 1920s, when Ireland first became independent, woodland covered about 1% of the land—just 90,000 ha of forest. Although forests have been widespread in the country, centuries of deforestation had occurred to create farmland and for fuel. From the seventeenth century onwards, trees were cut to build ships or for ...

Who Introduced the Leap Year?
Julius Ceasar, believe it or not. The Roman calendar had got seriously out of date with the solar calendar, even though Roman officials were supposed to introduce an extra month every so often. So Caesar consulted his top astronomers who worked out that the solar year—the time it takes for the Earth to do exactly one rotation around the sun—was 365.25 days. So, by maintaining a calendar with 365 days, and adding one extra day every ...

The rising trend of raising backyard chickens in US cities and suburbs is bringing with it huge increase in the number of illnesses from poultry-related diseases, at least one of them fatal.
Between January 2017 and October 2017, over 1,100 people contracted salmonella poisoning from chickens and ducks in 48 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Almost 250 were hospitalized and one person died. The rate was four times higher than in 2015. The CDC estimates that the actual ...

China wants to lead the world in the manufacture and use of clean-energy cars, and to achieve this it will need to ensure research and development in battery production. Batteries have become vital to the manufacture of clean energy cars. As part of China’s industry development plan (April 2017), the government pledged to promote research and development of key battery cell parts and improve management structures in the industry.
Batteries are at the heart of clean energy vehicles because they are ...

The world’s chocolate industry is driving deforestation on a devastating scale in West Africa. As global demand for chocolate booms, ‘dirty’ beans from deforested national parks have entered big business supply chains.
As much as 40% of the world’s cocoa comes from Cote d’Ivoire, and the rainforest cover has been reduced by more than 80% since 1960.
The chocolate industry has many small-scale farmers who grow cocoa on plantations, many of which are illegal as they are in national parks or protected ...

Clerics in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, have long struggled to justify the kingdom’s decades-old ban on women driving. None could cite a verse in the Koran to justify barring women from driving a vehicle.
On September 26th the Kingdom decided to lift the ban. The decision was welcomed by women and many men. It will give Saudi women a freedom that others take for granted. It will have economic benefits, too, sparing families the cost of hiring a (male) ...